Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02839396 2016-12-14
RECONFIGURABLE NETWORK ENABLED PLUG AND PLAY
MULTIFUNCTIONAL PROCESSING AND SENSING NODE
BACKGROUND
[0001] The subject matter described herein relates to automated monitoring and
reporting of environmental data. Complex manufacturing environments may
experience a wide
variety of conditions that may affect operations of machinery or materials
being worked. Existing
environmental monitoring systems tend to be integrated into existing machinery
and operate
using proprietary measurement, processing, and communication protocols.
Monitoring systems
which are more flexible and which operating according to open standards may
find utility in
complex manufacturing environments.
SUMMARY
[0002] Embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the present
disclosure may provide improved environmental condition monitoring and
reporting. In one
embodiment, there is provided a data acquisition device, comprising: a
plurality of sensors to
detect an environmental condition; and a configurable processor coupled to the
plurality of
sensors, wherein the configurable processor is configured to: receive one or
more signals from
the plurality of sensors, process the one or more signals to generate
environmental data
representative of the environmental condition, implement a device profile for
web services
(DPWS) protocol module to provide DPWS functionality including a DPWS
interface
comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) to present a listing of the
plurality of sensors, the
GUI comprising a window in which logical objects representing particular
sensors of the
plurality of sensors are presented, wherein logical operations can be
performed on environmental
data associated with the sensors by dragging and dropping the particular
sensors onto the window
and connecting the outputs of the logical objects to logical operators, and
provide access by a
remote device via the interface.
[0003] In another embodiment, there is provided a method to monitor
environmental
conditions, comprising: detecting, in a plurality of environmental sensors
mounted on an
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electronic device, environmental conditions; receiving, in a configurable
processor coupled to the
plurality of sensors, one or more signals from the plurality of sensors;
processing, in the
configurable processor, the one or more signals to generate environmental data
representative of
the environmental condition; implementing a device profile for web services
(DPWS) protocol
module to provide DPWS functionality including a DPWS interface comprising a
graphical user
interface (GUI) to present a listing of the plurality of sensors, the GUI
comprising a window in
which logical objects representing particular sensors of the plurality of
sensors are presented,
wherein logical operations can be performed on environmental data associated
with the sensors
by dragging and dropping the particular sensors onto the window and connecting
the outputs of
the logical objects to logical operators; and providing access by a remote
device via the interface.
[0003a] Advantageously, the electronic device may further include a
coprocessor
coupled to the configurable processor, wherein the coprocessor may be
selectively coupled to
one or more external sensor devices to receive environmental data. Preferably,
at least one
input/output module may be coupled to the coprocessor to receive data from one
or more external
computing devices.
[0003b] In another embodiment, there is provided a data acquisition device,
comprising: a plurality of sensors to detect environmental conditions; and a
configurable
processor coupled to the plurality of sensors, wherein the configurable
processor is configured to:
receive one or more signals from the plurality of sensors, process the one or
more signals to
generate environmental data representative of the environmental conditions,
implement a device
profile for web services (DPWS) interface, generate a graphical
representation, wherein the
graphical representation includes a first portion that displays a listing of
devices, functions, and
sensors of the plurality of sensors and wherein the graphical representation
includes a second
portion, the second portion being configured to display a representation of a
particular sensor of
the plurality of sensors, display a portion of the environmental data
associated with the particular
sensor, and establish an interaction of the portion of the environmental data
associated with the
particular sensor with one or more devices from the listing, one or more
functions from the
listing, or combinations thereof, and make the graphical representation
available for access by
one or more remote devices via the DPWS interface.
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10003c1 In another embodiment, there is provided a method to monitor
environmental
conditions, comprising: detecting, via a plurality of environmental sensors
mounted on an
electronic device, environmental conditions; receiving, at a configurable
processor coupled to the
plurality of sensors, one or more signals from the plurality of sensors;
processing, via the
configurable processor, the one or more signals to generate environmental data
representative of
the environmental conditions; implementing, via the configurable processor, a
device profile for
web services (DPWS) interface; generating, in the DPWS interface, a graphical
representation,
wherein the graphical representation includes a first portion that displays a
listing of devices,
functions, and sensors of the plurality of sensors and wherein the graphical
representation
includes a second portion, the second portion being configured to display a
representation of a
particular sensor of the plurality of sensors, display a portion of the
environmental data
associated with the particular sensor, and establish an interaction of the
portion of the
environmental data associated with the particular sensor with one or more
devices from the
listing, one or more functions from the listing, or combinations thereof; and
making the
environmental data available for access by one or more remote devices via the
DPWS interface.
[0004] Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the
description
provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific
examples are intended
for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of
the present disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] Embodiments of methods and systems in accordance with the teachings of
the
present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the
following drawings.
[0006] Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a system for environmental
condition
monitoring and reporting according to embodiments.
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100071 Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of a device for environmental
condition
monitoring and reporting according to embodiments.
[0008i Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of a protocol stack which may be
implemented
by a controller in a device for environmental condition monitoring and
reporting according to
embodiments.
100091 Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of a communication protocol which
may be
implemented by a device for environmental condition monitoring and reporting
according to
embodiments.
[00101 Fig. 5 is a screen shot which illustrate properties of logical objects
in a system
for environmental condition monitoring and reporting according to embodiments.
PM Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of a logical view of a
system for environmental
condition monitoring and reporting according to embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTIDN
100121 Systems and methods =for environmental condition monitoring, reporting,
and
data analysis are described herein. Specific details of certain embodiments
are set forth in the
following description and in Figures 1-6 to provide a thorough understanding
of such
embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand, however, that alternate
embodiments may
be practiced without several of the details described in the following
description.
100131 Fig. 1 is a schematic illustration of a system for environmental
condition
monitoring and reporting according to embodiments. Referring to Fig. 1, in one
embodiment the
system 100 comprises a plurality of condition monitoring clusters 110,
identified in the drawing
as cluster I and cluster 2. Clusters 110 comprise one or more sensor nodes
112, each of which
comprises one or more sensors 114. Sensor nodes 112 may be communicatively
coupled via a
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network 120 and a router 116, which provides for communication between the
nodes 112 and
remote devices. Sensor nodes 112 and sensors 116 will be explained in greater
detail below.
[0014i Clusters 110 may be coupled to one or more external servers by a
network 122.
In the embodiment depicted in Fig. 1 the clusters 110 are coupled to a service
integration
appliance 130 and a data store appliance 132. Other external servers may be
coupled to clusters
110. One or more applications 134 may be accessible to the service integration
appliance 130
and data store appliance 132 via a network 124.
100151 Fig. 2 is a schematic illustration of a device 210 for environmental
condition
monitoring and reporting according to embodiments. Referring to Fig. 2, in
some embodiments,
device 210 comprises one or more environmental condition sensors 230. Sensors
230 may
include a light sensor 232, which may be embodied as a photodetector, a
photodiode, or the like,
an accelerometer 234, a temperature detector 236, and a humidity detector 238.
Other
environmental condition detectors may be integrated into device 210. By way of
example, in
some embodiments environmental condition monitoring may include monitoring
conditions
relevant to the health of a machine and consurnables used by the machine.
100161 In the embodiment depicted in Fig. 2 the detectors 232, 234, 236
include
internal analog to digital (A/D) converters, such that the outputs of the
detectors 232, 234, 236
are in digital format. By contrast, the output of humidity detector 238 is in
analog format, and is
input into an A/D converter 240 for conversion to a digital format.
100171 The outputs of detectors 230 are input into a processor 218. In some
embodiments the processor 218 may be implemented as a configurable processor,
e.g., a
microprocessor or a field programmable gate array (FPGA). A memory module 216
may be
coupled to processor 218 to store logic instructions and/or data generated by
the processor 218.
100181 Device 210 may comprise a coprocessor 242 that comprises an internal
A/D
converter to receive inputs from one or more environmental monitoring devices
external to
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device 210. In the embodiment depicted in Fig. 2 device 210 may receive input
from an external
current monitors 272, 274, and one or more accelerometers 276, 278. The
coprocessor 242 may
also receive inputs from a GI'S (Global Positioning System) module 244 and
from one or more
external sensors 286 via an IIC bus 246.
100191 Device 210 may comprise one or more network interfaces 212A, 212B,
212C,
which may be referred to collectively herein by reference numeral 212. Network
interfaces 212
provide a communication interface to one or more external communication
networks. By way of
example, network interface 212A may provide an interface to a wired network
260A such as an
Ethernet, while network interfaces 212B, 212C provide interfaces to wireless
networks 260B,
260C, respectively. Wireless networks 260B, 260C may be implemented, e.g., as
WiFi network
which operate pursuant to an IEEE 802.11.x standard, WiMAX networks, or
cellular networks.
The particular conmiunication standard pursuant to which the wireless networks
260B, 260C
operate is not critical.
[0020i Device 210 may further include one or more communication buses to
provide
communication with external devices 280, or a host computer 282 or external
sensor 284. In the
embodiment depicted in Fig. 2 device 210 may comprise one or more buses which
operate
according to the RS232 protocol 220, the JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) bus
protocol 222, or
the IIIIC (Inter-Integrated Circuit) protocol 224. Again, the particular
communication standard
pursuant to which the respective communication buses operate is not critical.
100211 In some embodiments the processor 218 executes logic instructions which
establish a web-based interface to the various sensors 230 on the device 210.
By way of example,
the processor 218 may implement a Device(s) Profile for Web Services (DPWS)
interface to
provide for discovery and communication capabilities for the various sensors
230 on device 210.
Fig. 3 is a schematic illustration of a protocol stack which may be
implemented by a controller in
a device for environmental condition monitoring and reporting according to
embodiments.
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Referring to Fig. 3, in some embodiments the protocol provides for
communication via an
internet protocol (IP) layer 310. A packet management layer such as a =UDP
service 312 or
Hrrpacp services 316 314 utilize the services of IP layer 310. A messaging
framework layer
318 implements a SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) service. A web services
security (WS-
Security) layer 320 provides security services over the SOAP interface. A WS-
Discovery service
322, WS-Eventing service 324, and a WS-Metadata Exchange/Transfer service 326
operate over
the WS-Security layer 320. One or more application specific protocols 330 may
operate on top of
the WS protocols.
[00221 In some embodiments Fig. 4 is a schematic illustration of a
communication
protocol which may be implemented by a device for environmental condition
monitoring and
reporting according to embodiments. In some embodiments the DPWS protocol
provides for
implements a client-server model 400 pursuant to which a DPWS client can
initiate a discover
request 410 to discover one or more WS-enabled devices on a network. In
response to a
discovery request, a DPWS server may publish 412 information about one or more
DPWS
enabled devices managed by the DPWS server. The DPWS client may initiate a
subscribe
request 414 to subscribe to information feeds or other services from the DPWS
server. The
DPWS server may provide control messages 416 and event messages 418 to the
DPWS client.
The DPWS client may store data collected from the DPWS server in a data store
430.
(0023) As mentioned above, in practice, the processor 218 may implement a DPWS
protocol module to provide DPWS functionality. Thus, in operation the device
210 may function
as a DPWS server to provide web-based access to services and information
provided by sensors
230 on device and information collected from external devices such as current
sensors 272, 274,
accelerometers 276, 278, and other external devices 270. Aspects of the DPWS
interface will be
explained with reference to Fig. 5 which is a screen shot which illustrate
properties of logical
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objects in a system for environmental condition monitoring and reporting
according to
embodiments.
[0024i Referring to Fig. 5, when sensor nodes 112 are connected to a network
they
nodes can automatically be discovered by a DPWS client device that is coupled
to the network.
In some embodiments the DPWS interface includes a graphical user interface
(GUI) 500 that
presents a listing 510 of the various devices discovered by the DPWS client.
The interface 500
further includes a window 520 in which logical objects representing selected
discovered devices
may be presented managed by the DPWS client device. As mentioned above, a DPWS
client
device can subscribe to data feeds from discovered sensors. The window 520
presents an object-
oriented view of the discovered sensors and the associated data feeds. Logical
operations may be
performed on data collected from the sensors by dragging and dropping selected
sensors onto the
window 520 and connecting the outputs of the logical objects to logical
operators. Thus, as
illustrated in Fig. 5, the outputs of temperatures sensor identified as
Temperature Sensor 9,
Temperature Sensor 4, and Temperature 5 maybe input to Database 1 and to a
Data Average
logical operator, which averages the temperature readings from the sensors.
The output of the
data average operator may also be input to Database 1. In addition, the Data
Average logical
operator may comprise one or more internal logical operators that generate a
signal if the
temperature reading meets a criterion. The signal may be output to a warning
device, e.g., a light
emitting diode identified on the screen shot by LED 1. Fig. 5 also depicts the
output of an
accelerometer sensor connected to an LED identified as LED 2 and a GSM module
depicted as
GSM 5.
[0025i One skilled in the art will recognize that the interface 500 enables a
user to
discover networked devices and capabilities thereof, and to collect and
manipulate data from the
sensors without possessing specific knowledge of operational characteristics
of the device or
communication protocols pursuant to which the device operates. Data may be
collected,
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processed and stored using simple drag and drop techniques that present a
pictorial model of the
data processing environment. The graphical depiction of the window 520 may be
stored in a
storage medium.
100261 Fig. 6 is a schematic illustration of a logical view of a system for
environmental
condition monitoring and reporting according to embodiments. Referring to Fig.
6, a plurality of
sensor nodes 612 may be distributed in locations around a manufacturing
environment. By way
of example, sensors 612 may be placed proximate working tools or at important
locations on an
assembly line. The sensors may be distributed at various locations in a
manufacturing facility or
may be geographically distributed in different facilities.
100271 Sensor nodes 612 are communicatively coupled to a directory service
module
620. In some embodiments directory service module 620 discovers and maintains
a directory of
networked devices on sensor nodes 612. The directory is made accessible to
clients 662. An
application composition GUI 630 is communicatively coupled to directory
service 620 and
provides a service to permit users to construct applications, e.g., using the
graphical techniques
described with reference to Fig. 5. The application composition GUI 630 may
utilize inputs from
the sensor nodes 612, one or more functions or logic modules 632, and inputs
from one or more
web services, email, and database endpointkormectors 634. The graphical
constructs generated
by the application composition GUI 630 are input to a model/code generator
640, which converts
the graphical constructs into an application which may executed on a
processing device. In some
embodiments the application may be stored in an algorithm repository 642 and
may also be
passed to an application platfom, translator/publisher module 660, which
publishes the
application for use by a client 662. Applications may also be published for
use by the
processor(s) 218 in the sensor nodes.
100281 In the foregoing discussion, specific implementations of exemplary
processes
have been described, however, it should be understood that in alternate
implementation, certain
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acts need not be performed in the order described above. In alternate
embodiments, some acts
may be modified, performed in a different order, or may be omitted entirely,
depending on the
circumstances. Moreover, in various alternate implementations, the acts
described may be
implemented by a computer, controller, processor, programmable device,
firmware, or any other
suitable device, and may be based on instructions stored on one or more
computer-readable
media or otherwise stored or programmed into such devices (e.g. including
transmitting
computer-readable instructions in real time to such devices). In the context
of software, the acts
described above may represent computer instructions that, when executed by one
or more
processors, perfomi the recited operations. In the event that computer-
readable media are used,
the computer-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by
a device to
implement the instructions stored thereon.
[00291 While various embodiments have been described, those skilled in the art
will
recognize modifications or variations which might be made without departing
from the present
disclosure. The examples illustrate the various embodiments and are not
intended to limit the
present disclosure. Therefore, the description and claims should be
interpreted liberally with
only such limitation as is necessary in view of the pertinent prior art.
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